Protesters in devastated Beirut turn their fury on Lebanon’s leaders
BEIRUT — Protesters in Beirut occupied government ministries, set fires and faced off against security forces Saturday in an outpouring of anger directed at Lebanon’s leaders following the huge blast that ripped through the city earlier this week.
As the battles raged, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab delivered an address to the nation that left little doubt that the political establishment intends to dig in. He offered early elections and said he needed two more months to secure an agreement among the country’s political factions.
But the protesters said they don’t want their politicians to agree on early elections under a decades-old system they blame for the dysfunction that allowed a vast stockpile of explosive material to sit unattended at their port for over six years, only to explode on Tuesday with such power that it was felt 120 miles away in Cyprus.
The cry from the streets is for the politicians to stand down and open the way for a new order in Lebanon.
“Resign or Hang” said the banners advertising the demonstration, making it clear that the demand is for the politicians to go, not to agree.
“People refuse to live under their rule anymore,” said Hussein El Achi of the Min Tishreen activist group, one of the protest’s organizers.
This demonstration was different than the ones that erupted last October, full of hope that popular pressure could bring about reforms to the country’s sclerotic and sectarian system of governance, he said.
“At first we were asking them. We had demands. But today we’re not asking anymore, we are acting, we are taking back what is ours.”
The mood on the streets was overwhelmingly dark and desperate after Tuesday’s tragedy — which left at least 158 people dead.
The anger has been directed at the full spectrum of Lebanon’s political factions, including the powerful Shiite militia Hezbollah, which is widely believed to wield control over the port where 2,750 metric tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate sat unsecured.
Demonstrators paraded gallows and nooses around the central Martyrs’ Square and strung up effigies of the country’s leading politicians, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
In a speech Friday, Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, warned not to hold the Shiite militia responsible for the blast, saying it could “start a battle” that Hezbollah would win.
“We want all of them to resign, from Hezbollah to the rest, from the lowest to the highest,” said a 25-year-old protester who works for an aid agency. She didn’t want to be named, citing a fear of retribution from the authorities.
“We hate our politicians. Every single one of them.”
Tensions erupted as soon as protesters began to gather in central Martyrs’ Square. Soldiers and police forces opened fire with tear gas as protesters threw rocks.
The Red Cross said at least 65 people were taken to hospitals and more than 188 were treated at the scene. Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces said one of its officers died in an incident at the luxury Le Gray hotel, which was set on fire. Police were investigating the cause of the death.
As midnight approached, the security forces appeared to gain the upper hand. They drove most of the protesters out of Martyrs’ Square and also out of the Foreign Ministry, chasing and beating the rock-throwing protesters.
Earlier in the day, relatives of the dead spoke to the protest crowds. “Have you seen my son?” the mother of 23-year-old Joe Akiki, an electrician at the port who died in the blast, screamed into a microphone in front of the gathered crowd. “He has beautiful hazel eyes. Where are you my son? You buried our sons.”
Those gathered held up pictures of the victims of the blast, which injured about 6,000 people. Some 21 people are still missing, according to the Ministry of Health.
“Murdered, not martyred,” read one sign held by a demonstrator. “Leave, you garbage,” another said.
It is still unclear what caused an initial explosion and fire before another that produced the massive mushroom cloud above the city, or why so much ammonium nitrate was sitting at the port at all.
The confrontation came on the eve of a virtual conference Sunday to be attended by world leaders, including President Donald Trump, intended to raise donations to help families stricken by the blast.
But the Lebanese don’t want world powers to give money to their government, said Jad Chaaban, an assistant economics professor at the American University of Beirut who protested.
“Don’t give this political criminal class the financial means to continue ruling over us,” he said. “Not a single dollar, not a single penny for any government institution. These thugs in power don’t represent us.”